An Analysis Of Context And English Reading Instruction

Each sentence in the reading materials is organically connected whether in the sense of meanings or in the sense of logic. Only in this way can information be conveyed effectively.The use of language is inseparable with context. All discourses are the output of certain context. Reading is the process of interpreting the discourses. Without the correct interpretation of what the author of the discourses write on, correct interpretation of the discourses cannot be achieved. Actually contexts are the factors that influence the output and the understanding of the discourses. People cannot understand the sentences correctly without the context. Context plays an important role in the comprehension of a discourse. The readers should not only acquire the literal meaning of it, but also analyze and infer the implied meaning according to the context.Context can be divided into two parts: Linguistic context and non-linguistic context. To understand discourses Chinese students should first have the knowledge of linguistic context, namely: phonetic context, grammatical context, semantic context. Then they should have the awareness of non-linguistic context. In non-linguistic context it includes: physical context, encyclopedic context, social context and cognitive context. In the process of English reading comprehension, linguistic and non-linguistic contexts are complementary, neither can be left out. Only by helping students grasp as much context knowledge as possible can they attain the ultimate goal successfully---reading comprehension.In China students used to adopt the"bottom-up"model in reading. They used to clear all the new word before they read the text, then they will analyze the structure of the sentences to understand the meanings of the paragraphs or the discourses. In doing these a lot of time is wasted because the words they note down are not correct in the situation of context. Still they will have problems in the reading comprehension. Actually it is just on the low level of reading, only learning some words and grammar in the text context. A high level of reading has not been achieved. From this point of view, in the process of English teaching, research and analysis of the context is of practical meaning to help the student with their effective reading, to cultivate their sense of context, and to enhance our reading teaching in English by using context knowledge.